Newbie to forum but not to diabetes

[Carl Wood]

Hi Everyone
My name is Carl Wood and I live in Macclesfield Cheshire. As my title says I am new to the forum but not to diabetes. In May of this year I will have had Type 1 Diabetes for 36 years. It has ruined my eyesight to a level that I am registered Severly Sight Impaired and I also have Diabetic Neuropthy so it has claimed two of the the complications we have to put up with, but I can still see the moon and that is miles away.
I have had 7 years on an Insulin pump but have reverted back to injections and have between 6 and 8 per day. My basal insulin is Insulatard which I am told is getting a bit old hat now but Lethal Lantus did not work for me the hypo's were belters so they had to agree to put me back on insulatard.
I look forward to meeting you all on here and reading your experiences of this **** condition

Best Regards
Carl

Edited by moderator for language.

 

[Mad76]

Hi and welcome.
I've only been on this forum for about a year, and type 1 for the sane.
Its brilliant for advice and motivation.

 

[MeiChanski]

Welcome Carl! Have a seat with us I’ve been a type one since 2001, so 18 years. I’m by no means perfect, I escaped with few infections and abscesses and that was a kick up my back for better management. Eventually my team was happy until I fainted a few times in 2012/13 before going to uni and during uni. Few years on and moved to a different area of England, I had my pump for almost a month so I’m quite a newbie and CGM for almost two months. I hope to see you around!

 

[becca59]

Welcome @Carl Wood sorry to hear about your complications. Have been a type 1 for 6 years myself and in that time my basal was changed from Lantus to Toujeo and Humalog to Fiasp. There are many more much improved insulin’s out there these days. Perhaps time to speak to your team about some changes. Are you happy with your HBA1C and day today management. If not Have you discussed if you are eligible for a Libre? It would help with tighter control, so hopefully help to ward off any more complications.

 

[Carl Wood]

Thanks to you all for your kind replies. In answer to becca59, Yes I am going to go on the Libre in the next few weeks all of that has been approved and seeing as I ended up in hospital for 2 days with DKA it was an easy decision for them. They are talking about changing my basal insulin but I am a bit scared to go for it as I know Insulatard pretty well and after the Lantus experience I feel changing insulins is not right for me, but I am willing to try them.

 

[therower]

@Carl Wood . Welcome to the forum.
Nice to have such an experienced new member. Hopefully your experiences good and bad will be hugely beneficial to us all.
Check out the Type 1’stars r us thread. A great place for a chat.

 

[Jaylee]

Hi @Carl Wood ,

Welcome to the forum..

I've done Insulatard & use Lantus. Yep, Lantus could be better..
I'm currently beavering for a change.
Seems they agree I could be moving on to Tresiba. Still needs a little more work with the Libre on scrypt.

Good to have you here!

 

[margamandan]

Hi Carl, I'm a type 1 diagnosed in May 2016, so still a newbie. Sorry to hear about your complications.

I'm with you on lantus, Pretty early on I pushed to move away from it, it felt so wrong. Being so inexperienced it was hard to be listened tooo, but one nurse was amazing. I've since been on levermir and found it far nicer, but it is a split dosage system, with a morning and night time injection daily. I also use novorapid.

Maybe you could try this?

One thing I try to not do, is inject novorapid and levermir at the same time, just so I don't experience both Insulins release patterns working together, for me some time between taking Insulin types helps avoid lows.

Hope the forum helps

 

[Carl Wood]

Thanks for your input margamandan. I inject the Insulatard into either my legs or backside and then the Novorapid into my stomach, but I do inject them at the same time. Thanks for you Lantus vote, I have to go to DSN on Monday for my Libre machine so will see what other insulins are out there.

Cheers

 

[Robinredbreast]

Hello and and a big welcome to the forum @Carl Wood. Good luck with the Libre, I have had mine coming up to 8 months now and I find it invaluable
I am on Tresiba, but previously on Insultard, Dr at the hospital changed it in the summer of 2018.

 

[margamandan]

Hi Carl, I hope the dsn offers you some alternatives. I have found you need to be persistant in your requests.

I've attached a pdf outlining some of your rights.

Have a read, see if it helps in your approach to your needs being met.

Hope it goes well

 

[Carl Wood]

So after my visit to DSN this afternoon I now have a Libre meter and they are changing my insulin to Tresiba .I have the prescription for it but it takes my pharmacy a week to get any items in so next Tuesday should be first day on this new insulin. Looking forward to getting to know new Libre system though.

 

[margamandan]

Have you picked it up yet? Hopefully it works for you

 

[Carl Wood]

Hi, thanks for the post. Yes got new insulin on Monday afternoon so started tresiba on Tuesday morning,so will see how it settles in and whether it improves things in any way.

 

[margamandan]

How are you bg levels on it?

 

[Carl Wood]

No different up to now ,but it is earlys yet. Will give it at least a fortnight and evaluate then.

 

[MPM]

Hi Carl. Diagnosed in 1970. Been through everything from glass syringes and boiling needles up to the insulin pump and the freestyle libre. The pump and the libre are the best things that have happened to me. I use humalog in the pump and would recommend it to you. I have found with the Libre if it is fitted and not activated for 24 hours it seems to give more dependable results. Hope this helps if you want more info feel free to ask
Michael

 

[Richie 2]

Thanks to you all for your kind replies. In answer to becca59, Yes I am going to go on the Libre in the next few weeks all of that has been approved and seeing as I ended up in hospital for 2 days with DKA it was an easy decision for them. They are talking about changing my basal insulin but I am a bit scared to go for it as I know Insulatard pretty well and after the Lantus experience I feel changing insulins is not right for me, but I am willing to try them.

Hi Carl, I recently changed from being a long time Insulatard user to Losatan. It's worked out great, far better control. Been T1 for 30 years myself.

 

[SueJB]

Morning @Carl Wood and welcome.

 

[TJR56]

Welcome, Carl. I've had T1 for 61 years and have had to try all sorts of regimes! The latest seems to be what my local authority can afford, basal Abasaglar twice a day and Novorapid 3(+) times. Because of frequent finger prick blood tests I manage to keep a reasonable average b.g. but it is hard work so I truly sympathise. Complications don't help as you know. (The main artery in one of my legs is blocked and I rely on a stent to keep my right going, though I had a recent scan and this needs clearing or replacing - again, after 18 months since the last. But there we go: chin up and try our best. I look forward to the day when I can have a Libre, but it was ruled out on .my last consultant visit on the grounds that my HbA1C is too good and I don't have enough hypos... Never mind: we keep going! Keep in touch with the Forum as we can learn from others as well as our Diabetes team.